Russian officials launched on Monday an investigation into the emergency landing of a passenger plane in Siberia, federal investigators said in a statement.
"An examination is being carried out... A procedural decision will be made based on its results," the Investigations Committee of the Prosecutor General's Office said on its website.
The landing gear of the Boeing 737-400 plane, owned by the Russian air carrier Transaero, caught fire during takeoff from the Tolmachyovo airport in Novosibirsk.
It circled over the city for two hours to burn extra fuel and then landed at the airport.
However, a Transaero spokesman said there was no fire. He admitted, however, that an alarm had gone off in the cockpit notifying the pilot that the wheel was on fire, prompting the pilot to return to the Novosibirsk airport.
The plane carrying six crew and 124 passengers was en route to Moscow. The company said it had sent a second plane to Novosibirsk to fly the passengers to the capital.
Novosibirsk's transport prosecutors also began a probe into the observation of air safety regulations.
MOSCOW, June 7 (RIA Novosti)
